As teenagers, everyone probably thought it was a real car, that Audi sports car. It was one of those cars with the mark "just have to have it." Of course, no one could afford it. If you managed to afford the car, you couldn't afford the insurance, so none of the Audi sports car models fit into the average budget - at least not then. It was one of those dreams that thought you hated to give up on it, you knew if you didn't, you would drive yourself crazy just continuing to wish and dream. Seeing an Audi sports car on the street was a major case of the "drools," and if any guy owned one, all the girls were after him. Of course, this was many years ago, and things have changed since then.
Though the Audi sports car has not lost its feeling of "manliness," it has lost the sense of loss that people feel because they can't drive it. Like others in its category, new leasing plans that have evolved over the last ten years or so have made it easier for the middle-class worker to afford to drive one of the Audi sports car models. Some of the leasing plans make it so easy that it's almost impossible not to take them up on their offer, and have that Audi sports car that you always wanted to drive since the time you had your first driver's license. It makes it easy for someone to sit down and ask himself or herself "why not?" yet know that they shouldn't.
It makes it so easy to fulfill that dream with the new leasing plans, but are they really all they are cracked up to be? After all, you still have to give the car back, but the thrill of having it for three or four years, just makes it worthwhile. The major issue with this is, though the lease payments are manageable, the insurance for an Audi sports car is enormous as it is with any sports car. If your driving record has any marks on it, which most sports car drivers do have, then it's even higher. Between the two of them, is it worth it to drive an Audi sports car? It must be because in any town where you travel, they are seen frequently on the highways. Once just a model that would fit two people, you can now see families driving them.
The leasing companies and Audi itself are not fools. They knew how much in demand the Audi sports car was, and in order to draw in customers, they had to create a plan that would work for even the middle-class. While it was once uncommon to see such cars as BMW, Audi, Mercedes, and Jaguar in the average person's driveway, it is now a common sight to see in a middle-class neighborhood. The flexible leasing plans gave the average person a chance to drive the car of his dreams, and not have to pay $600-800 a month in car payments. Certainly, with the lease plan, you are giving it back after three or four years unless you take the option for a buyout, but most people tend to trade their cars in after that period anyway. With lease payments half of what the banks wanted for car payments to purchase one of these cars, the leases became quite attractive.
After the Internal Revenue Service changed the law for itemized deductions where homeowners were no longer allowed to claim interest on an auto loan, it became less appealing to buy a car. When you could lease for lower payments and even add a maintenance plan to the deal, which would include routine maintenance items such as oil changes, tune-ups, transmission check up, and much more, why buy it? Today these leases are even more attractive, and their popularity is growing every day as more incentives for owning a car are disappearing.